Representatives of dating apps will meet with the Australian federal government to discuss security measures and areas for potential law reform amid reports about high rates of assaults on the platforms.
It comes as the government ramped up its online safety laws which will allow the eSafety Commission to regulate illegal and restricted content no matter where it’s hosted including on online app distribution services and search engines.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who has the power to determine the expectations for certain online services, will meet with dating app operators in early 2023.
She noted that online safety had become a growing community concern.
“Every Australian deserves to live free from harassment and all forms of violence, including those using dating apps,” she said.
“The government expects dating apps and websites to do all they can to keep their users safe, such as providing easy-to-use reporting processes, support for victims of abuse, processes and policies that hold perpetrators accountable, and incorporating safety by design processes.”
The move comes after a report released in early October by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) showed three in every four survey respondents had been subjected to sexual violence facilitated via dating apps in the past five years.
The study, which surveyed 9,987 dating app or website users in Australia, also found that a third experienced in-person abuse from someone they met on a dating app or website.
This included sexual assault or coercion, reproductive and sexual-health-related abuse and in-person image-based sexual abuse.
“Sexual harassment was the most common form of behavior reported, as well as abusive and threatening language, and unsolicited sexual images,” the AIC said in a media release.
This month a New South Wales man who police allege had a long history of domestic violence was charged with the murder of a woman he met online.
The case has sparked calls for dating apps to implement verification systems and criminal checks to prevent people with violent tendencies from hunting for victims on the platforms.
Criminologist Rachael Burgin, lecturer of criminology at Swinburne law school, called for the government to “to completely ban people with violent criminal histories or alleged histories, with any sort of civil intervention order in place, from these apps.”
“We shouldn’t be waiting until there’s an absolute tragedy before we start reflecting on the way technology is used or can be used by perpetrators. We need to design for it,” Burgin said, according to The Brag.
A spokesperson for New South Wales minister for women, Bronnie Taylor, said the minister is “eager to work through these issues with the sector, agencies, peak bodies and dating apps to identify how we can improve safety for all users and prevent further tragedies from occurring,” reported The Brag.
Dating apps and websites will be pushed to do more to keep users safe by having easy reporting processes, support for abuse victims and policies to hold perpetrators accountable.
Under a new online safety law introduced in January 2022, the eSafety Commissioner will have the power to ask internet service providers to block access to material showing abhorrent violent conduct such as terrorist acts, remove intimate images or videos shared online without the consent of the person shown, and require online service providers to report on how they are meeting the basic Online Safety expectations.
AAP contributed to this article.
Nina Nguyen is a reporter based in Sydney. She covers Australian news with a focus on social, cultural, and identity issues. She is fluent in Vietnamese. Contact her at nina.nguyen@epochtimes.com.au.
